Semi Permanent Aotearoa 2023 — Festival of Creativity & Design

Semi Permanent Aotearoa, the country’s premier festival of creativity and design, returned to the country’s capital of Wellington. Taking place across two venues within the city, from Wednesday 8th until Friday 10th November 2023, the festival welcomed thousands of attendees from across the Asia Pacific region for three days of keynote talks, panel discussions, workshops and masterclasses that served to educate and inspire.

The programming lineup included Adidas’s senior director of personalisation and future of content Alexandra Popova (Amsterdam), New York Times Magazine design director Ben Grandgenett (New York), beauty founder Emma Lewisham (Auckland), Pangaia chief engagement officer Eva Kruse (London), visual artist Mike Hewson (Sydney), author and designer Rajiv Surendra (New York), and Weta Workshop founder Richard Taylor (Wellington).

The Semi Permanent Art & Design Fair was held for the first time in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a dynamic mix of vendors including Artzone, Art News Aotearoa, Bad News Books, Black Wax Press, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Migrant Zine Collective, Phantom House Books, Tender Press, The Art Paper, and The Dowse Art Museum.